Uvulo-glosso-pharyngeal dimensions in subjects with beta-thalassaemia major.

The purpose of this study was to investigate cephalometrically the uvulo-glosso-pharyngeal dimensions in subjects with beta-thalassaemia major. The subjects were 15 thalassaemic patients (eight males, seven females) with a mean age of 14.13 +/- 1.06 years. The variables measured on the lateral cephalograms were tongue height and length, soft palate length and thickness, superior, middle and inferior pharyngeal airway space, and hyoid bone position. The thalassaemic group was compared with a normal control group matched for sex and age using a t-test. The results showed that thalassaemic patients had a smaller tongue size (length P < 0.05, height P < 0.001), shorter soft palate (P < 0.001), smaller upper (P < 0.001) and middle (P < 0.05) pharyngeal airway spaces, and a shorter vertical pharyngeal length (P < 0.05). The hyoid bone in thalassaemic patients was closer to the mandibular plane (P < 0.001).

The spectrum of glomerulonephritis in adults in madinah munawarah region.

To evaluate the patterns of glomerular diseases in the Madinah region in Saudi Arabia we reviewed 85 biopsies from native kidneys of adult patients presenting with clinical and or biological features suggestive of glomerular disease. Only light microscopy was used to evaluate these biopsies. There were 62 males and 23 females with age ranging from 12 to 80 years (mean 28 + 13.4 years). The main clinical presenting features were nephrotic syndrome in 68 patients (80%), renal insufficiency in 31 (36.5%), hypertension in 25 (24%) and/or hematuria in 19 (22.4%). Histopathology revealed minimal change disease in 25 patients (29%), mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis (GN) in 13 (15.3%), focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in 13 (15.3%), membranoproliferative GN in seven (8.2%), membranous GN in three (3.5%), diffuse proliferative GN in five (5.9%), crescentic GN in four (4.7%), lupus nephritis in 13 (15.3%), and amyloidosis in two (2.4%). In conclusion, Minimal change disease was the most common type of primary GN in our patients. The mean age for this group was 27.2 (range 13-43 years). Lupus nephritis was the commonest secondary GN in the Madinah region.